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An Easter Sacrifice

As many of you may know, Bryce, my 21 yr. old son, has been dating Sara Henthorn for a while now. If you haven’t met her, you must! She is precious and we share so many like-minded passions. Not only have they been committed to serving together in church, but they have even supported each other in an awesome exercise/ diet program (she is a twiggy so….I am so excited about having a health conscious person around)

For Christmas she wanted to give Bryce a dog. He had mentioned he wanted one so she asked permission& began a quest to search many shelters for the right one. We went together and picked out Marshall, who is my ♥! I suggested the I-Touch or other things he had mentioned, but she was determined to do this. This shows her motives and heart.

There are many other reasons why she has been so welcomed in our family, but the primary one is her love and commitment to ministry. They have done street ministry together, but mostly her passion for missions. Since 1986 my heart has been enthralled in short-term missions. At that time I was married and we even put our house for sale. We were going to rebuild just a “base” and spend our time doing missions. Building churches, ministering to the women & children, etc. That dream is one of my “why’s”.

Enough of me….this is totally about Sara! She left Friday to go to India with Jeannie to serve in a facility, Premdan, for sick/mentally challenged women & Shishu Bhavran–an orphanage. At Premdan they feed clients that can’t feed themselves, wash dishes, laundry, and just serve where they were needed most. Here is Jeannie’s description: “ Most of these women have lived on the street most of their lives, they have been abused, mistreated, neglected, some are mentally ill, some have physical handicaps, some appear to have cerebral palsy, Alzheimer’s, aids?, some maybe MS, some maybe Parkinson’s.”

Sara has traveled on several mission trips and is just an amazing servant. Nothing frazzles her & she usually has an “OK, let’s do it” attitude with meekness. This is an excerpt from an email to her parents” : “saw things i never could have imagined. and was embarrassed to be the only one who cried….till we got to our room, then jeannie joined me. 🙂 i am so thankful for you two and how supportive yall are, i am truely blessed to have yall as parents. thanks for all you do. and for trusting me to do what God has called me to do with out hesitation or questioning.”

I am blessed to follow this journey via emails forwarded from her mom. I want to Skype with her really bad!

From a mother’s heart, I am so proud of her and so blessed that she is in our lives. Bryce is probably totally lost during this time but….he will survive.

They are actually there during Easter. How amazing is that? What a complete selfless sacrifice for Jeannie and Sara. Here is an excerpt from one of the directors, Brian Brewer, and very appropriate.

“I thought it might be good to share another nugget from Mother Teresa’s writing if you may be asking….why? Why would they go there, over Easter…away from their families, to work among the sick and dying? Listen to the words of this mighty warrior who seemed to understand something about Jesus’ teachings that many/most of us miss…

“Our vocation is the conviction that “I belong to Him.” Because I belong to Him, He must be free to use me. I must surrender completely. When we look at His cross, we understand His love. His head is bent down to kiss us. His hands are extended to embrace us. His heart is wide open to receive us. This is what we have to be in the world today. We, too, must have our head bent down to our people, to the school where we are teaching or to the sick and the dying destitute that we are helping. This is Jesus in distressing disguise. Whether in the school or in the slum, it is the same Jesus. He said very clearly, “You did it to me. I was hungry…I was naked…I was homeless.” Let us not make the mistake of thinking that the hunger is only for a piece of bread. The hunger of today is much greater; it is a hunger for love, to be wanted, to be cared for, to be somebody.

one heart

I solicit prayers for our Sara and for her companion on this trip, Jeannie. I admire and applaud them both. I can’t wait til I can take Bryce & Sara to Brazil with me to work with Sergio & Silvia Ponce in the M.O.R.E. project.